Some Color Pictures from White Island, Antarctica, 1981
White
Island, 78 Degrees South, as seen from a helicopter near McMurdo Station, in the
antarctic summer. We set up camp near the South-eastern tip of the Island - left
in the picture - to study a small population of Weddell seals that is resident
at White Island year round. These were the only Weddell seals we were sure would
be accessible to us during the austral winter.
Mike
Castellini inspecting the tidal crack in April, the late austral fall season.
There is less and less daylight. The fall was the season during which we experienced
the most severe blizzards, lasting up to five days, and with wind speeds in excess
of 100 knots.
Traveling along the White Island coast - in a tracked vehicle - searching for
Weddell seals. Even though White Island is surrounded by the thick Ross Ice Shelf,
there are Weddell seals here. Usually a sea-ice seal, Weddells do not venture
far underneath permanent ice. At White Island however, there is a small population
of Weddell seals ranging along the perennial tidal crack on the northern side
of the island. With tidal movements at times exceeding two meters, this crack
is quite active even in winter time.
Both sunsets in April and sunrises in September - in this image - are spectacular!
Visibility is astonishing - when there are no blizzards! The air is so clean and
dry, that mountain ranges at a distance of one-hundred kilometers seem to be situated
in the "back yard".
When
climbing on the ridge of White Island near our field camp, we can see Ross Island
in the distance, across the barren Ross Ice Shelf, under the full moon. McMurdo
Station and Scott Base are on the tip of Hut Point Peninsula, jutting away to
the left from Mt.Erebus on Ross Island.
A closeup view of our camp from the White Island ridge, in mid-winter. The round,
Quonset hut type structure is a Jamesway, insulated tent fabric over a wooden
frame. We use it as a garage and to house the generators, which are fed from the
twin fuel tanks in front of the Jamesway. In the back, our living and working
quarters were built from two prefabricated wooden huts. This is where we lived
during the austral winter.
Full
moons in the middle of the antarctic winter can be stunningly beautiful, but these
are not the only visual marvels that help break up the frozen solitude...
The moon is so bright, and the ice reflects the moonlight everywhere, that even
in mid-winter full moon nights are bright enough not to need lights outside. This
picture was taken in June.
The
Aurora Australis - southern counterpart to the Aurora Borealis seen in northern
regions - is beautiful to behold. Faint wisps of white and colored bands slowly
sway across the south polar sky. In this four-minute time exposure the stars form
streaks across the image, due to the earths rotation.
Noctilucent
clouds can appear high in the sky in the middle of winter, like in this image
taken in August of 1981. The ridge on the lower part of the image is Hut Point
Peninsula on Ross Island. Observation Hill - situated between McMurdo Station
and Scott Base - can just be seen as a small peak at the very left.
A
closer look at these clouds, which are composed of ice that forms at extremely
high altitudes around crystalization cores. Frequently such clouds can be seen
if particulates from a volcanic eruption - even on another continent - travel
through the atmosphere.
Sometimes
these clouds look like giant oilslicks across the sky.
When
traveling through such spectacular displays, it is hard to believe that this is
in fact the planet Earth. Snowmobiles are a convenient way to travel when it is
calm - but also an extremely cold way. Any skin not covered will freeze in a matter
of seconds.
When
the temperature falls below minus sixty degrees, it is safer to travel in a cabbed
tracked vehicle, than in snowmobiles. Windchill is frequently off the scale, below
minus 100 degrees. Even though the cab is heated, this only brings the temperature
in the cab up to minus forty degrees.
Even though the austral spring can bring heavy storms, it is welcomed for the
light that comes along. Summer is near!
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